McLaren rejects Mercedes theory after MCL40 upgrade shock

McLaren was not confident that its suite of MCL40 upgrades would put it in contention at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Such strong race pace was definitely not expected.

Yet it was Lando Norris who won a gripping race, while Oscar Piastri looked set to feature in a McLaren one-two, one way or the other, before his DNF. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella declared that the team corrected the course of its MCL40, partially after analysing rival solutions. His claim that McLaren’s surge can be attributed fully to the upgrades, counters the view shared by Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta.

McLaren MCL40 surge all down to upgrades

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McLaren’s revisions for its MCL40 in Budapest included a revised floor body design, rear wing endplate and rear corner winglets.

Despite the coinciding improvement on track, Mercedes’ Resta suggested that more was going on.

“The update package was certainly significant, and it must have contributed to their performance,” Resta said on the Nu Silver Arrows radio show.

“At the same time, if you look at the gap between their two cars, there was clearly more to it than the upgrade alone.

“Throughout the year we’ve seen McLaren perform very strongly, with the balance of performance between their two drivers varying from race to race.

“We’ve also seen strong performances from Lando several times this season.

“Budapest may simply have been one of those weekends where he found himself in a particularly good place with the car, the setup and tyre management. I think it was probably a combination of both factors.”

Stella’s comments challenged that way of thinking from Resta.

“I think the improvement, from a competitiveness point of view, can be entirely ascribed to the upgrades that we took here, which included several items,” Stella told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets in Budapest.

“But at the same time, we were sort of thinking that this lap time step, not necessarily, would have been enough to be on pole position at the Hungaroring. Definitely we would have not thought that there would be enough to have such a strong pace in the race.

“Honestly, I still believe that if we want to be in a position to fight for victories consistently in the future, we need to keep our focus on delivering more upgrades. That is the plan.

“But we are not naïve. We know that this will be the plan for all the teams.

“So I think, like it’s always been in this 2026 season, it’s a matter of a race of upgrades, and the good news is that McLaren is now back in this race of upgrades while fighting for the lead.

“But I expect that the car that will be the best car at the end of the season, will keep adding tenths of a second in the next 11 races, probably as much as half a second. So definitely a lot of work ahead of everyone, not only McLaren.”

Stella spoke of a realisation once the MCL40 arrived – partially after investigating rival designs – that the team needed to “correct the course” with its challenger.

Stella praised the various departments involved for getting the upgrades to Hungary, as the McLaren boss revealed the tight turnaround involved.

“I think the main aspect of these upgrades is that they introduce some parts that follow a slightly different concept in some areas of the car,” said Stella.

“We realised after we delivered the MCL40, and also to some extent looking at the concepts that were present in some cars that were faster than us, that we needed to correct the course.

“From this point of view, I just can say a big thank you and a shout out to, first of all, our aerodynamic department that understood what was needed in terms of conceptual development, and we know that when McLaren understands which direction to take, then I think we are in condition to develop quite effectively.

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“Having mentioned the aerodynamic department, then obviously I need to mention also our design and delivery departments, manufacturing and logistics, because here we were pretty short of time in the delivery of the parts. Some parts arrived Friday night to be installed on Oscar’s car on Saturday morning.

“So it was a race against time, and I want to praise the team for having been successful in delivering all these upgrades.”

McLaren sits third in the F1 2026 Constructors’ Championship standings. P2 Ferrari is 87 points ahead. Leading team Mercedes is another 72 up the road.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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